


Rope

by pollyglyph



Category: One Piece
Genre: Drabble, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-21 02:13:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30014541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pollyglyph/pseuds/pollyglyph
Summary: Rope is familiar in Paulie's hands.
Kudos: 2





	Rope

**Author's Note:**

> (I've been writing Paulie for four or five years now, why have I never compared him to rope before?)

Rope was a tool Paulie worked with. He understood it. It felt familiar and dependable in his hands. He pulled it and it tightened, he knotted it and it held strong.

It was adaptable, whether tasked to rig an intricate pulley system in the dock to haul huge weights, or to craft neat ratlines that enabled scaling a mast swiftly right up to the crow’s nest. The rigging supported the whole skeleton of the ship. Rope strung every limb of a vessel to its body like muscles to bones, the masts to the deck and to those, the yards and the booms that steadied the main sails. It allowed them to shift with the breath of the wind and carry the ship across the water, whether aimlessly or with set destination. 

Held loose, rope was soft and flexible. Wrapping loops and coils, it let itself be guided like fluid in his callused fingers. Under tension, it was harsh and unyielding. When he drew a rig, he tugged firm lines direct from point to point. With force, the lines bent. But only when severed by the sharpest blade, worn down to only a few delicate threads, would his ropes finally break. 


End file.
